But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:7. let your light shine through your cracked pot. Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in.

Barack Obama is at the Gates of Vienna. But America is not at war with Islam! Got that? As a matter of fact, all those ISIS (or ISIL) people cutting off heads in those videos? They aren’t Islamic at all, according to President Obama:

Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim….ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.

Never mind that the be headers have dropped the “In Syria” or “In the Levant” and simply refer to all their accumulated turf — now the size of Great Britain — as just “IS” as in “Islamic State.” Or that they may have as much as $2 billion in stolen assets.

Who lives in the kind of fantasy that believes a self-proclaimed Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam? The atheist Sam Harris has noted this presidential assertion, agog. Writes Harris at his blog in a post titled “Sleepwalking Toward Armageddon”:

As an atheist, I cannot help wondering when this scrim of pretense and delusion will be finally burned away — either by the clear light of reason or by a surfeit of horror meted out to innocents by the parties of God. Which will come first, flying cars and vacations to Mars, or a simple acknowledgment that beliefs guide behavior and that certain religious ideas — jihad, martyrdom, blasphemy, apostasy — reliably lead to oppression and murder? It may be true that no faith teaches people to massacre innocents exactly — but innocence, as the President surely knows, is in the eye of the beholder. Are apostates “innocent”? Blasphemers? Polytheists? Islam has the answer, and the answer is “no.”

Harris makes a point of saying: “In drawing a connection between the doctrine of Islam and jihadist violence, I am talking about ideas and their consequences, not about 1.5 billion nominal Muslims, many of whom do not take their religion very seriously.”However, he goes on to point out that:

a belief in martyrdom, a hatred of infidels, and a commitment to violent jihad are not fringe phenomena in the Muslim world. These preoccupations are supported by the Koran and numerous hadith. That is why the popular Saudi cleric Mohammed Al-Areefi sounds like the ISIS army chaplain. The man has 9.5 million followers on Twitter (twice as many as Pope Francis has). If you can find an important distinction between the faith he preaches and that which motivates the savagery of ISIS, you should probably consult a neurologist.

Understanding and criticizing the doctrine of Islam — and finding some way to inspire Muslims to reform it — is one of the most important challenges the civilized world now faces. But the task isn’t as simple as discrediting the false doctrines of Muslim “extremists,” because most of their views are not false by the light of scripture. A hatred of infidels is arguably the central message of the Koran. The reality of martyrdom and the sanctity of armed jihad are about as controversial under Islam as the resurrection of Jesus is under Christianity. It is not an accident that millions of Muslims recite the shahadah or make pilgrimage to Mecca. Neither is it an accident that horrific footage of infidels and apostates being decapitated has become a popular form of pornography throughout the Muslim world. Each of these practices, including this ghastly method of murder, find explicit support in scripture.

And so they do. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the late Christopher Hitchens took to the pages of the UK’sGuardianto raise the then-new point to a shell-shocked world that the date September 11th had a specific symbolism in the Islamic world. Wrote Hitchens:

It was on September 11 1683 that the conquering armies of Islam were met, held, and thrown back at the gates of Vienna.

Now this, of course, is not a date that has only obscure or sectarian significance. It can rightly, if tritely, be called a hinge-event in human history. The Ottoman empire never recovered from the defeat; from then on it was more likely that Christian or western powers would dominate the Muslim world than the other way around. In our culture, the episode is often forgotten or downplayed, except by Catholic propagandists like Hilaire Belloc and GK Chesterton. But in the Islamic world, and especially among the extremists, it is remembered as a humiliation in itself and a prelude to later ones. (The forces of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza once published a statement saying that they could not be satisfied until all of Spanish Andalusia had been restored to the faithful as well.)

What Hitchens left out is the chilling demand that Mehmet IV, the Sultan of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, made of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I:

Primarily we order You to await Us in Your residence city of Vienna so that We can decapitate You.…We will exterminate You and all Your followers.…Children and grown-ups will be exposed to the most atrocious tortures before put to an end in the most ignominious way imaginable…

In one way or another, what ISIS and their “global caliphate” is all about is refighting the Battle of Vienna — and getting a different outcome. Like it or not, the president finds himself in the position of, as it were, defending the West. A job he repeatedly seems to find uncomfortable if not downright distasteful.

People used to use the phrase “like Nixon going to China” to convey a situation that could only be solved by a well-known opponent of the point in question — because only he would have the necessary credibility. In the actual event, the famously anti-Communist Richard Nixon was seen as the ideal person to open relations with Mao. No one believed the Chinese Communists could snooker Nixon, thus enabling Nixon to end China’s quarter-century of political isolation. His journey was greeted with gasps of disbelief. Obama has in his own way a similar opportunity as a man very much identified with the far left anti-American critique of our foreign policy.

And now the American people are watching these beheading videos of American journalists and a British aid worker and they are up in arms. As CNN reported the other day, “seven in 10 Americans believe ISIS has the resources to launch an attack against the United States.” A stunning 76 percent favor additional America airstrikes.

In 1683 the objective of the Sultan Mehmet IV was to lay siege to Vienna and starve it into submission. From there he would move on to Germany and Western Europe. The siege began in July — and it was succeeding. On September 11 the King of Poland, Jan Sobieski, arrived with European troops who were determined to break the siege and send the Ottomans packing. They did, setting the Ottoman Empire — the Islamic Caliphate — on the road to decline. It vanished altogether with World War I.

Yet Islamist determination, apparently, has not. If, as British Prime Minister David Cameron insists, today’s be headers — including the prominent one captured on videotape speaking in a British accent — are “not Muslims but monsters” from the “religion of peace,” than those Muslims who believe differently should make themselves heard and felt. And not just a few imams in Britain (as here, with a group asking Cameron and others to refer to ISIS as the “UnIslamics”), but full Islamic nations with money, troops, and military power.

And the question: What will Obama do? Suffice to say, until he comes to grips with the fact — say again the fact — that yes indeed, it is believers in Islam who are leading and joining ISIS, things will not go well.

It needs to be said that true restoration of relationships involves more than choices to forgive and be forgiven and a great deal more than fleshly striving to be kind and loving.

Holiness is not achieved merely by working to order our behavior according to the laws of God. Holiness is a matter of giving ourselves so completely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ that by the power of His Holy Spirit living in us we are transformed into His likeness. His purposes, motivations, and responses become ours. Our behavior is then the outward manifestation of what He has been allowed to accomplish in our innermost being.

Many in the church have not understood that a deep transformation of the inner man needs to happen for everyone in the process of sanctification. The Apostle Paul put it this way, “I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted: but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” 1 Corinthians 4:4, 5.

Hidden things in the heart (hardened heart, bitterness) often block us in our Christian walk and keep us from becoming one with each other and with God. When born-again Spirit-filled Christians cannot walk in Christ, often what is involved is one must minister through counseling to the evangelization of unbelieving hearts of believers. Hebrews 3:12.

Many Christians resist the very idea of sanctification as a process. Rather, they see it in terms of a single happening, an experience. They celebrate the fact that their sins are forgiven and they are new creatures in Christ, which indeed they are (2 Cor. 5:17) However, many fail to see that the new creation has yet to put off the practices of the old man (habitual ways of seeing, thinking, feeling, and acting) and to put on the new self who is “being renewed” (Col.3:3-15).

Many do not seem to understand that they must be renewed in the spirit of their minds (Eph. 4:23) so that they may learn, for example, how to “be angry” but “sin not,” Eph. 4:26.

Our renewed mind must be trained to take authority over the emotions of our heart so that choices to act are not directed by emotions but by the mind of Christ in us. We are crucified with Him (Gal.5:24 and 2:20) but Paul also says that we “die daily” (1 Cor. 15:31) as we reckon ourselves dead to sin and present ourselves as alive to Christ as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:11-14).

“By one offering He has perfected for all times those who are (being) sanctified” Heb. 10:14; this passage speaks of a process. In Hebrews 12:14 Christians are told to “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord.”

We are commanded to: “see to it that no one come short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” (Heb. 12:15) we are to do as Paul did, “…I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12). We are to “grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2) and “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12).

Christians who do not understand that our positional perfection in Jesus must become experiential in this life have counted their born-again experience as the end accomplishment rather than the beginning of a new life empowered by the risen Lord, supported, and nurtured by life in the family of God. (The Church).

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 NKJV.

Strongholds are first established in the mind; that is why we are to take every thought captive. Behind a stronghold is also a lie—a place of personal bondage where God’s Word has been reduced to any unscriptural idea or personally confused belief that is held to be true.

Behind every lie is a fear, and behind every fear is an idol. Idols are established wherever there exists a failure to trust in the provisions of God that are ours through Jesus Christ.

Some of the weapons that pull down these strongholds are: God’s Word (Heb. 4:12,13), the blood of the Cross (Rev. 12:11), and the name of Jesus (Mark 16:17). Strongholds are pulled down and confronted bondage is broken as these spiritual weapons of our warfare are employed (Eph. 6:13-18).

Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dries up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
“Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Mark 11:20-24.
Jesus’ action in cursing the fig tree indicates a passion in prayer and faith that we need to learn. His disciples having noticed the withered tree and were surprised at the complete withering of it.
Many today respond like the disciples “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” Jesus’ responded with a sharp command, “Have faith in God.” Then, calling His disciples to “speak to mountains,” He led them to prepare for situations in which they would find it necessary to take direct authority in the spiritual realm to impact things in the natural realm.
Real and tangible obstacles loom as blockades against the accomplishment of God’s purpose through His sons and daughters. Jesus’ command to speak into the face of such obstacles is not a figure of speech, nor is it a

superstitious exercise. It is an act of faith.

learning to speak to our “mountains” (unsaved loved ones and friends, friends and family stricken with so-called incurable diseases) helps us to grow in strength, and seeing those mountains moved by God’s merciful hand encourages us to continue to believe for the miraculous.

One of the questions most often asked concerns our prayers for another person. We are unsure if we can pray effectively that God will change or save them. Can our prayers override the will of another person? No! God has given man a free will, and God will never force a person against his free will.
“And the the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athrist come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
God gives everyone a will. If we do not have a free will we are robots. We can say yes or no with our will. Did Adam and Eve have a free will? Did they not make a decision. It’s a dubious privilege to be free to make the wrong choice. People must choose God for themselves.
If we have children who have all the answers, a husband, a wife, a friend, a neighbor, we can pray for the person, but we cannot force our will upon them.
Why then do we pray for the unsaved? Let’s think outside the box just for a moment. King David said ” “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Now who or what influences us as we grow up in a sin infested world?
Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:3,4 “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this world has blinded, who do not believe lest they light of the gospel of the glory of Christ , who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
Can the unsaved truly have and execute their free will when all of hell is blinding them? How do they come to a place where they are not driven in darkness and unable to make a true choice. It is only in spiritual warfare that such a place exists. As we bind the powers of darkness in prayer. We bring God’s influence to people in prayer. Enabling them to make a choice.
let’s see an example form Jesus’ ministry. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him [Jesus], and saying, “Lord, have mercy upon my son: for he is a lunatic and sore vexed: for ofttimes he fallen into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him unto Thy disciples, and they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said…”Bring him hither to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour” (Matthew 17:14-18).

Notice this child had Jesus sovereignly working from the outside upon him.Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, “Why could not we cast [the demon] out?” And Jesus said unto them, “Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you. Howbeit this kind [that is, demon possession] goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” (v.19-21)
Here was a child who was hopeless and helpless apart from the prayer of someone else. This was not a case of forcing the child’s will , but freeing the child from demonic oppression or infestation. We have a hell-bent world in the grip of Satan. When we pray, our prayers do not force people to be saved but free people to be saved. We bind away the blinder who blinds their eyes.
When someone asks me to pray for someone who is not a believer I like to bind the unclean spirits in the person (Matthew 18:18) and command them to get into a box and be silent. I cut off their cords on earth and in the heavenlies (The demons in the second heaven will try to reinforce the ones in the lost person) if I do not do this. I cast off all their lines (of reinforcement). I tell them they cannot go in or out.

Then I ask the Holy Spirit to bring to the person all the requests of the people who have prayed for their salvation to be presented to them (Rev.8:3,4). The person is now on a level playing field in which they may make a choice without being robbed of the choice by the demons of hell.

Does this offend your theology? Oh well sorry but it works. Use your authority in Jesus’ name in spiritual strategy verses praying for years for a persons salvation.
Did Jesus have authority to cast the demon out? Of course but what did He do? He bound the demon and commanded it out then brought healing to the child.

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Scott Bitcon Site

Scott is a friend who has prayed with over 5 thousand people, and trained 600 Pastors. He is a genuine man of God. He has prayed for me and my wife as well as trained me.
I highly recommend his ministry to anyone suffering in areas where issues have not been resolved.
Inner Healing and Deliverance
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